Just How Good is The Nokia N93 at Video?

When I was looking to purchase the Nokia N93 I looked to online reviews to give me some idea regarding the quality of it's two main features, almost DVD video capture and 3MP photography.

To be honest, back in September 2006, sample video and photos were in short supply, even now in December 2006 there isn't that much on the net regarding video quality, despite video being one the main selling points of the Nokia N93. So it's with inquisitive potential N93 owners in mind that I now present my N93 video shoot out!

This post contains video samples (at full res) and screen grabs of almost identical video, shot on both the Nokia N93 and a Canon MV 630i Digital Camcorder (Note, this is the UK model number, the American model number may differ). I picked the Canon MV 630i because it's a common DV camcorder and about as close to a standard DV cam and you'll find. It also happens to be the only DV camcorder that I own!

For the details of my analysis please be sure to read the posts below, not forgetting to download the full format video from both the N93 and the Canon MV 630i.

Please note that the Canon is PAL format and the Nokia is in an NTSC style frame format.

EDIT: It would seem that at least one reader considers the Canon video sample to be really quite awful. Though I only own one camcorder (the Canon MV 630i), I have edited video from both Sony and Panasonic camcorders and I'd say that the Canon is only slightly inferior to a budget Song camcorder. Again, please be sure to check the full H.264 versions of the test videos.